A scenic bike ride of a different sort has
been added to the annual StreetFest project at Calvin College this year.

The 2005
edition of StreetFest, scheduled for September 1-3, will see some
1,000 incoming Calvin College students spend a part of their three-day
orientation combining service with learning in a variety of Grand Rapids
neighborhoods.

And this year, for the first time ever, some of them will do it on wheels.

The urban bike tour, a concept developed by Don De Graaf, a Calvin professor
of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, Dance and Sport, will take
faculty and incoming Calvin students throughout the city, stopping at
several StreetFest sites.

"The objective is to introduce students to the city and to also
show some of the places that Calvin students have been involved in the
city," De Graaf says. For example, we may stop at Plaster Creek and
talk about how Calvin biology students are involved in helping clean up
that watershed. Or we'll stop in Burton Heights, and we'll talk about
how the nursing students are involved with staff from Health Intervention
Services."

The cyclists will cover about 20 miles on the tour, De Graaf says, while
learning about the issues of the city.

"Our hope," he says, "is that when they return, students
will have gained an appreciation for the city and many of the challenges
the city faces. We also hope they will be encouraged by the experience
to be active citizens in the city during their stay at Calvin and beyond."

Jeff Bouman, director of the college's Service Learning Center likes
the idea of a bike tour because it takes StreetFest in a different direction.

"It doesn't directly involve service," he says, "but it's
a learning activity that revolves around the city's assets and resources.
Knowing what a city has in place is intimately connected with getting
involved in the city as a responsible citizen."

Brittney Stelpstra, a Calvin senior from Sarnia, Ontario, is this year's
StreetFest coordinator and she says the bike tour is part of keeping StreetFest
fresh.

"Every year we ask, how is Streetfest going to change?" she
says, "and this is this year's addition."

But many of StreetFest's constants will be visible this year too as students
do touch-up painting at Heartside Ministry, yard cleanup at First Christian
Reformed Church, food sorting at Second Harvest Gleaners, a rain garden
(a garden that filters groundwater) for the West Michigan Environmental
Action Council, a cook-out with seniors at John Ball Park Zoo and numerous
other undertakings for over 50 of the city's nonprofit organizations.

This year's StreetFest theme is "Enter the Song."

Says Stelpstra: "The song is a metaphor for the work of God that
has been happening for generations. We see StreetFest as an invitation
for our new students to enter into that song - to engage in the work of
restoration - by being involved in Grand Rapids."

The StreetFest day begins at 9:30 a.m. when all participants - students
and mentors - gather in the Calvin chapel for a half-hour of worship.

At 10 a.m. the various work teams will attend breakout sessions where
they will meet their mentors and learn about the demographics and the
existing resources of the neighborhoods they will be working in.

Following the actual project, the students meet to reflect and evaluate
their service experience.

This will be the 13th year for StreetFest at Calvin College.

Local sponsors for the event include Huntington
Bank, which provides a large portion of the funding for StreetFest,
and Kentwood and Chicago Drive
Cycling and Fitness who will provide all of the bicycles (and other
necessary equipment) for the students who will be participating in the
city-wide bike tour component of StreetFest.